The happiest countries in the world? The Nordics

Let's know which are the Nordic countries happiest in the world. According to the recent World Happiness Report 2018, the happiest country in the world would be Finland, followed by Norway, Denmark and Iceland. From a chemical point of view, happiness has to do with endorphins, serotonin and dopamine. But what activates these hormones from the environment?

How to measure happiness?

Happiness is a broad and multifaceted concept, with various individual implications. We all know what it means to be happy, although it represents different things for each of us. How to measure happiness then? We can basically attend to two types of criteria:

• Objective criteria: It would be the weighting of variables such as per capita income, health or education indicators, civil rights, crime or corruption rates ...
• Subjective criteria, that is, how people rate their lives or how often positive feelings appear above negative ones. Since the objective criteria have to do with political and governmental decisions of each country in which we have little room for intervention. Let's see some proposals and ways of life that come from the north to increase the subjective criteria of happiness.

LAGOM

Lagom It is a word of Swedish origin that is difficult to translate and means something like the middle point of things, "enough", "in the right measure", "not much or little", that is, it is a concept that has to do with with balance, as the option chosen in the face of excesses. For Swedes, happiness is not in having a prestigious job, or a mansion or a high-end car, but in appreciating simplicity, learning to enjoy the basics and valuing what you have.

The beauty of fairness. The term lagom comes from "laget om" or "around the team", an expression used by the ancient Vikings when they got together to get drunk. If each one took his part in moderation, it was enough for all, and joy was common.

This philosophy of moderation applies to all aspects of life: lead an ecological life (using the necessary resources such as water or electricity), buy what is necessary (do not waste on superfluous things), seek the balance between leisure and work (not focus exclusively on one or the other), balanced diet (harmonizing health and pleasure, always from moderation), or even decoration (looking for the minimalist and functional, without excesses).

HYGGE

This term of Danish origin is related to lagom since it also defines balanced and harmonious experiences that generate well-being. However, the term hygge emphasizes the relational aspect and, in fact, can be defined as “high-quality social interaction”. It would be the happiness of the company, feeling loved and giving love in a pleasant and comfortable environment, enjoying the present moment. Some examples of hygge would be a family board game session or enjoying a good meal with friends in a relaxed atmosphere. It is best enjoyed in "petit committee" since it is easier to promote proximity and trust and not open several parallel conversations. Normally hygge activities are simple and usually have to do with things that our ancestors would also recognize as pleasant. The opposite of hygge is "uhyggeling" and refers to anything that does not invite comfort, for example, a scary or violent movie, or the use of trigger generators. Conversations that break the harmony are also uhyggeling, for example, topics related to politics or work or various stressors.

FIKKA

This concept would be the equivalent of hygge but referring to work. It seeks to generate through socialization among colleagues, taking coffee breaks, for example. The Danes also add homemade dishes or sweets. Contrary to that in our country, where the relationship between colleagues is usually done at the end of the day, and outside the work environment (the so-called after-works).

FRILUFTSLIV

It is a term known in the Nordic countries, particularly in Norway and Sweden, to refer to "life in the open air." For these countries, contact with nature is very important for physical and mental well-being and is understood as a way to promote happiness and inner peace. Curiously, and despite the low temperatures of the winters of the Nordic countries, This contact with nature is established throughout the year, since, as the Swedish saying goes, “there is no bad weather, only inappropriate clothing”. The concept allmansrätten (in Finnish: Jokamiehenoikeus) is closely related to the friluftsliv. It is a public law in Nordic countries such as Norway, Finland, Sweden and Switzerland that allows people to move freely and even spend the night temporarily, on open, privately owned land as long as there is respect for the environment and whoever is also present.

But how?

Happiness is a spontaneous state, it arises naturally in humans when the right conditions are created. A person cannot be forced to feel positive sensations, in fact, it can have a paradoxical effect: the slogan "be positive!" it tends to generate the opposite, that is, more negativity. However, the necessary elements of the environment or the way of understanding the environment can be changed in order to achieve this state of happiness. People are plastic, we all have the capacity for change. The Nordic concepts presented above can be a trigger for change. Start by asking yourself some generic questions:

• What does it mean to you to be happy?
• Are you a person of extremes? It helps you?
• What can you make-think-feel differently today that would make you happier?
• What are your needs? Are they realistic? Do they condition you?
• Do you have pending issues that you drag from the past?
• Can you think of a model of external happiness? Who represents it? Does it motivate or limit you?

• The Nordic countries top many rankings and happiness is one of them.
• Concepts like Lagom or Hygge come to us in the form of philosophies of happiness from which we can get good recipes.
• One cannot force oneself to feel positive sensations, but the necessary elements of the environment or the way of understanding it can be changed in order to achieve this state of happiness.

Cristina Agud

Specialist in Clinical Psychology